Where Play and Utility Shake Hands – Outbuilding, with Deep Garden by Baracco+Wright Architects

Near inner Melbourne’s Edinburgh Gardens in Fitzroy North, a 1980s concrete block house designed by Ross Perrett sits along a quiet street. Though noteworthy, it is not the sole architectural story on the site, which also includes a recently completed glass block structure in the back garden. Designed by Baracco+Wright Architects, the two-storey outbuilding exists in strong dialogue with the original house, creating an entirely new spatial narrative for this place through simple geometry and sightlines.

The outbuilding was conceived to provide the clients and their young children with additional space. As Louise Wright of Baracco+Wright says, the existing house is “an excellent building that didn’t suit an extension,” and so she and Co-Director Mauro Baracco explored the concept of a separate structure for play and utility. In considering the form, location and materiality of the outbuilding, its relationship to the existing house and garden was integral, and the prevailing dialogue is one of this project’s most notable qualities. Louise says, “it is as much about the shape of the building itself as the negative space of the garden and the long views from within the house.”

As Louise Wright of Baracco+Wright says, “it is as much about the shape of the building itself as the negative space of the garden and the long views from within the house.”

Pleasingly, this project is grounded by several lines of enquiry that emerge frequently in Baracco+Wright’s built outcomes, such as loose spatial conditions, fluid programming, uncomplicated geometries and an interest in how architecture and landscape can share space in an integrated concept. Located on the set down clearing of a carpark and with various constraints, the outbuilding’s floor plan – which is perhaps best likened to a triangle with one curved and two pointed corners – is a clear outcome of the tenets central to their practice. Louise and Mauro have been considerate in their treatment of this parcel of land, strengthening and maintaining several fundamental elements such as the raised garden bed, the home of a significant birch tree and the existing vegetated sightlines deep into the sides of the garden.

As well as these considerations, the “push-pull” nature of the peculiar site – it runs deep on the south before kicking back diagonally to the north, creating a sharply angled pocket at its most southern point – heavily informed the outbuilding’s footprint. Rather than follow these lines and drive the structure into this nook, the form sits away from the boundary, curving at the corner and bringing a welcome rotundness to the form. The leftover space makes way for a “public moment” along the rear laneway, where a tree has been planted for the benefit of passers-by. It is an idea that, similarly, can be seen at Baracco+Wright’s Fitzroy Community School Creative Space, where a V-shaped niche in the front fence hugs a tree. At the front of this outbuilding, the apex of the triangle confidently dips its nose into the space between the garden and the existing structure, sitting just within the frame of view from the house’s rear window. This gap is also animated by a much smaller, circular glass block structure housing a sauna, which Louise fondly dubs “the little full stop”.

As Mauro Baracco says, “the concrete block house is what we would call a ‘muscly’ building. It’s confident and strong and has this simple geometry to it, so we wanted the outbuilding to ‘talk’ to it in an equally strong way but also provide a counterpoint.”

Baracco+Wright’s guiding principles around spatial conditions and landscape resonate with this project, yet the materiality speaks heavily to the specifics of the site. As Mauro says, “the glass block was a solution not in our usual response.” He continues, “the concrete block house is what we would call a ‘muscly’ building. It’s confident and strong and has this simple geometry to it, so we wanted the outbuilding to ‘talk’ to it in an equally strong way but also provide a counterpoint.” The glass blocks achieve this, he says, “playing with the solidity through transparency in response to the tight site, allowing light to pass through to the garden, and creating an expansive interior spatial quality.”

Driven by the glass blocks, this “interior spatial quality” is unmatched to most domestic environments. Conceived as a continuous, non-structural curtain wall, the frosty squares appear to drape over the steel frame, resulting in a distinct lightness. On the ground floor, there is room for bikes, a small car if required and space for “the kids to muck about”, and the upper level – which is accessed by a Victorian ash ladder – absorbs multiple activities, much like a spare room would. The bathroom – a circular pocket of space delineated by a curtain – is rudimentary and elegantly detailed; a slick epoxy floor stretches out underfoot; and an exposed-steel structural framework is finished in the same shade of green used in the original house.

The elemental nature of this space is deeply reflective of Baracco+Wright’s work; it speaks back to a simplification of geometries and a quietening of noise.

The elemental nature of this space is deeply reflective of Baracco+Wright’s work; it speaks back to a simplification of geometries and a quietening of noise. As Louise offers, these concepts have been longstanding interests of the office, reflected in an essay they penned, titled The Lesson and Legacy of Conceptual Simplicity, which accompanied an archival exhibition the pair curated of Vico Magistretti’s work in 2019. In it, they describe the “sense of immediateness and essentiality” that informs this type of design approach, for which they count Magistretti, among others, as a key reference. The outbuilding’s restrained colour and material palette, and the clarity of its intent, are thoughtful outcomes of this influence, which is well-placed within Baracco+Wright’s enduring rationale.

Among many things, one of the most resonant qualities of this outbuilding is its relationship to light, about which Mauro says, “the spatial quality is animated by the colours and shadows of the deep garden.” From within, the sun throws silhouettes on the surface of the glass; the deep burgundy leaves of the forest pansy and the neighbouring red brick wall create a soft pink glow alongside blues and yellows also gleaned from the surrounding environment, and leaves dance in the breeze – their exact outline blurred by the opaque blocks. These shadows and hues change with the passing of the day, growing deeper and more defined before disappearing completely at night. Under the light of the moon, the building operates in reverse, becoming luminous and glowing from within.

Baracco+Wright’s contributions to building culture are intentionally measured, and this project works exceptionally hard to distil the fundamental qualities of good design into a built outcome that contributes to a meaningful spatial narrative. This is a powerful upshot, yet Outbuilding, with Deep Garden goes one step further, proving that these important architectural principles can happily shake hands with a sense of wonder.